Roller cotton gin



y 966 A. L. VANDERGRIFF 3,251,094

ROLLER COTTON GIN Filed July 31, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fl I 22 INVENTOR.

4/?VZ L. VHNDEEGfF/FF May 17, 1966 Filed July 31, 1963 A. L. VANDERGRIFFROLLER COTTON GIN 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG-2 1N VEN TOR.

ARI 4 L1- VHNDERGE/FF y 1966 A. L. VANDERGRIFF 3,251,094

ROLLER COTTON GIN Filed July 31, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. 1421 514,. VHNDERGR/FF May 17, 1966 A. L. VANDERGRIFF 3,251,094

ROLLER COTTON GIN Filed July 31, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fl 6 8 INVENTOR4P V54 [1. VHNDEEGE/FF y 1966 A. 1.. VANDERGRIFF 3,251,094

ROLLER COTTON GIN Filed July 31, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR 4%?V5L1,. VHNDE'EGE FF United States Patent 3,251,094 ROLLER COTTON GIN ArvelL. Vandergrilf, Montgomery, Ala., assignor to Continental Gin Company,Prattville, Ala., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 31, 1963, Ser.No. 298,879 3 Claims. (CI. 1953) This application relates to a cottongin and is particularly concerned with a roller cotton gin.

The ginning of cotton, which is the operation in which the seeds areseparated from the cotton fibers, is customarily carried out either in asaw gin or in a roller gin; the former type being the most widely usedat the present time. Saw gins, however, have certain drawbacks inconnection with long staple cotton, in particular, and for this reason,in certain regions rollergins are employed. The advantage of a rollergin is that it can handle long staple cotton better than a saw gin, andproduces a superior fiber product that has less fiber breakage thereinand which is more free of nips or entanglings than is the case withfibers produced in a saw gin.

Heretofore however, in connection with roller gins, a particulardisadvantage has been encountered in that, whereas a saw gin producesfibers'continuously, successful roller gins are somewhat intermittent inoperation. This comes about on account of the fact that there is amoving knife employed that cooperates with the ginning roller and adoctor knife to strip the seeds from the fibers as the fibers are drawnpast the doctor knife by the ginning roller. The reciprocation of themoving knife serves to interrupt the flow of cotton to the ginningroller so that, heretofore, the productive rate of a roller cotton ginhas been relatively slow.

The high quality of the fibers produced by a roller gin however havekept it in use, particularly in regions where the cotton ischaracterized by particularly long fibers, such as Pima cotton.

Various attempts have been made to improve the roller cotton gin and, inparticular, to improve the gin with respect to the rate of fiberproduction in order to make it more competitive with the saw gin, whileat the same time, retaining the advantageous characteristic of theroller gin that the fibers produced are not entangled or broken.

The particular condition that has given the most difii culty inconnection with the roller gins is the length of time required to pullthe fibers from the seed, particularly,

long fibers, and to dislodge the seed from the fibers with the seeds ina relatively fiber free condition, and to do this continuously and at arelatively high rate of speed. This has led to the construction of aroller gin having a ginning roller turning against a stationary knife sothat the fibers will be drawn under the knife while the seeds areretained thereby, and utilizing therewith rotary or con-.

tinuously moving knife means to knock the seeds away above thestationary knife. In the case of the gin having the rotary knife, aswastika type knife was employed, for example, running inside a seedgrid concentric therewith. This gin, however, did not produce cleanseeds because it did not give enough ginning time to pull the fibers offthe seeds and also led to considerable seed cracking.

In another type roller gin, a plurality of moving'knives or flat barswere employed moving continuously in one direction over the top of theginning roller where it engaged the ginning knife and serving to pullthe seeds away from the fibers to effect discharge of the seeds. Thistype roller gin had certain advantages in that ample time was availablefor the ginning of the locks of cotton, but the difiiculty of keepingthe machine in adjustment at high speeds of operation completely offsetany advantages that were otherwise present. This type of gin also didnot always produce seeds as clean as could be desired.

With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the roller gin whichoperates more rapidly than roller gins according to the prior art whichproduces cleaner seeds with less breakage of the seeds, and whichproduces better fibers having fewer nips and with less fiber breakage.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a roller gin inwhich the damaging of (the ginning roller in the event of stopping ofthe roller gin is prevented.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a roller ginin which the opportunity is afforded to efiect some preginning of thelocks of cotton, and wherein ample time is provided for eifecting'thecomplete ginning of every lock of cotton before a substantially cleanseed is stripped from the cotton fibers.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a method ofginning cotton, particularly long staple cottons, which results in asuperior product produced at a more rapid rate.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a rollercotton gin which is substantially 'self regulating with respect to feed,so that even an excess amount of cotton delivered thereto will not causeany operating ditficulties.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomemore apparent upon reference to the following specification taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic elevational view showing a rollercotton gin according to the present invention with a precleaning orextracting stat-ion ahead 0f the gin;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the gin according to the presentinvention looking in from one side of the gin; I

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view looking in from the other side of thegin;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view through about the middle of thegin showing in more detail the various operative portions thereof;

FIGURES 5 thru 8 are somewhat diagrammatic views FIGURE 9 is afragmentary view showing the slidable support for the ginning roller andthe motor pertaining to the support by means of which the .roller ispressed toward and retracted from the stationary ginning knife or doctorknife;

FIGURE 10 is a more or less diagrammatic representation of the pneumaticand electric control system forming a part of the roller tion;

FIGURE 11 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of a modification; and

FIGURE 12 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing a still furthermodification.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, in FIGURE 1 theroller cotton gin according to my invention is generally indicated at 10and this unit is preceded by a cleaner or extractor 12, and between theextractor and the gin is a feeding station 14. The cotton to be ginnedis fed into the machine by way of a hopper 16 and the fibers that areseparated from the seed are removed by way of a duct 18. The gin maycomprise as an integral part thereof a reclaiming station generallyindicated at 20 where the unginned seeds that pass the ginning stationare separated from the ginned seeds.

gin according to the present inven- The unginned seeds are conveyed by aduct 22 back to 3 station 20 and the mechanism for driving the gin willbe better seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, which are side elevational views, andFIGURE 4 which is a vertical sectional view through the mechanism.

The roller gin stand according to the present invention comprises aframe 24 made up of sheet metal and suitable brace elements, and thismay 'be in the form of a weld-ment so that it has suflicient strength tosupport the various operative parts of the gin.

The aforementioned feeding station 14 mounts on top of the housing 24 ofthe gin and itself includes a hous-- ing 26 with Walls therein defininga passage 28 for the cotton to be ginned.

The cotton passing through passage 28 is influenced by a pair of feedrollers 30 which deliver the cotton to a larger feed wheel 32 which, inturn, delivers the cotton to a slide 34 located within the gin housing.

The feed rollers 30 may be driven in any suitable manner, for example,as shown in FIGURE 2, wherein the supporting shafts for the feed rollersare provided with pulleys or sprockets 36 about which passes theflexible drive element 38 that also passes around pulley or sprocket 40mounted on the output shaft of hydraulic motor 42. Motor 42 is suppliedwith pressure fluid from a motor driven pump 44 via conduit means thatinclude a fluid control valve 46. By the described arrangement, acompact unitary feed structure is provided that requires only theconnection of electric wires to motor 48. The speed with which cotton isfed can be determined by the setting of valve 46.

The cotton that is delivered at a controlled rate to slide 34 passestherefrom to a smaller slide 50, and then passes off this slide to arotary knife or bar member 52 which, as viewed in FIGURE 4, is rotatingcounter-clockwise. The cotton delivered to the rotary bar or knife 52 isaccordingly fed thereby leftwardly as viewed in FIGURE 4 to the regiondesignated by the arrow 54 on top of the ginning roller 56. The ginningroller 56 has a covering thereon of leather or rubber-like material ofsuch a nature that the fibers of the cotton tend to adhere thereto sothat the cotton is carried around the ginning roller in the direction ofthe arrow 56 on the ginning roller 56 and toward the stationary knife60. The ginning knife 60 bears on the surface of the ginning rolleradjacent the rotary bar or knife 52, and the fibers of the cotton locksare drawn beneath the stationary ginning knife while the seeds areprevented from passing beneath the knife because there is not sufficientclearance for the seeds. The fibers are thus pulled from the seeds andthe seeds are discharged in the direction of arrow 62 above the ginningknife.

The fibers that are pulled under the ginning knife by roller 56 dropinto chamber 64, which communicates with conduit 18 and those fibersthat remain adhered to the surface of the ginning roller are strippedtherefrom by dofiing roller 66 which has flexible rubber-like blades 68that serve to strip the fibers from the surface of the ginning roller.

Seeds that are discharged along the path indicated by arrow 62 eitherfall on a rotary saw 70 or strike against a slide 72 and move down thisslide to the saw and the fibers yet connected with the seeds are caughtby the teeth of the saw and carried thereby past the bars 74. This whipsthe seeds from the bars and the unginned seeds are then removed from thesaw by dofling brush 76 and the fibers, together with any trash or seedsentrained therein are delivered to chamber 78 which communicates withduct 22 leading back to the inlet side of cleaner or extractor 12. Seedssubstantially free or com: pletely free of fibers and those seeds pulledoff from the fibers by bars 74 are dropped into chamber 80 and conveyedtherefrom to a disposal point.

The manner of actuating the several rotary elements of the gin and thereclaimer will be seen in FIGURES 2 and 3. In these figures it will beobserved that there is an input shaft 82 supported on the roller ginframe at one side and this shaft is driven by any suitable means, suchas an electric motor.

The shaft carries a pulley 84 that is engaged by a double angle V-belt86 that passes over a somewhat larger pulley 88 on a shaft 90 thatextends transversely through a housing of the gin between chambers 64and 80. Belt 86 is maintained taut by an idler pulley 92 adjustablycarried in a bracket 94 attached to the side of the housing of the gin.An adjustment bolt 96 can be availedof for drawing pulley 92 downwardlythereby to impose the desired degree of tautness to belt 86.

As will be seen in FIGURE 3, shaft 90 on the same end that carriedpulley 88, carries also a sprocket wheel 98 that drives a chain 100 thatruns over a large sprocket wheel 102 fixed to shaft 104 on which ginningroller 56 is mounted. Chain 100 is preferably a double chain so thatsuitably large amounts of power can be delivered to shaft 104 fordrivingroller 56.

Turning now to FIGURE 2, it will be seen that shaft 90 at the endopposite pulley 88 has fixed thereto a pulley 106 over which passes adouble angle V-belt 108. This V-belt is entrained over pulley 110 onshaft 112 that carries dofiing brush 76 and over an idler pulley 114,and then over. pulley 116 fixed to shaft 118 that carries saw cylinderor wheel 70 and then over another idler pulley 120 back to pulley 106.Idler pulley 120 is adjustable for maintaining belt 108 taut and to thisend pulley 120 is mounted on a plate 122 that is adjustably secured tothe gin housing as by the bolt and slot means 124.

The shaft 118 pertaining to saw cylinder 70 also has a pulley 126thereon about which is entrained a V-belt 128 which passes also around apulley 130 fixed to shaft 134, which is the shaft for the rotary bar orknife 52, or is the projecting end of the said rotary bar or knife. Theshaft pertaining to the rotary bar or knife, or the ends thereof, arejournaled in the bearings 136 mounted on opposite sides of the ginhousing, and these hearings are carried by bearing mounts or brackets138. The mounts or brackets 138 are slotted as at 140 and are secured tothe gin housing by bolts 142. Inasmuch as the location of the rotary baror knife relative to the surface of the ginning roller is extremelyimportant, the position of the mounts or brackets is determined byabutment screw means 144 provided at opposite ends of each of the saidmounts or brackets.

A drive is also effected to the dofier 66 by way of a pulley mounted onshaft 152 pertaining to the said doffer and about which pulley there isentrained V-belt 154 that passes about pulley 156 fixed to shaft 104 ofthe ginning roller at the end thereof opposite sprocket wheel 102.

The ginning knife is stationary and is substantially rigidly mounted ina support frame 158 thereof that is rigidly mounted in the housing ofthe gin stand. The ginning roller however is movably supported so thatit can be adjusted toward and away from knife 60 and be caused to engagethe knife under varying degrees of pressure. The purpose of varying thedegree of pressure between the ginning roller and the knife is to permitproper ginning of the cotton locks at various speeds of the ginningroller. In general, as the rate of feed of the cotton increases, thepressure with which it bears on the ginning knife is increased.

The invention further contemplates the provision of means for separatingthe ginning roller from the ginning knife upon halting of the ginningroller because when the gin is operating, the knife becomes quite hot,and if the ginning roller is stopped while it is hearing against a hotknife, the ginning roller can be damaged to the point that it will haveto be replaced and this is, of course, costly and laborious.

With the foregoing in mind, shaft 104 of the ginning roller is supportedin bearings 160, which are secured to slides 162 that are slidablysupported in the guide means 164 fixed to the frame of the gin andextending substantially at right angles to the plane of the ginningknife 60. Carried on the frame of the guide means are the fluid motorsmade up of cylinders 166, each of which has therein a piston 168connected by rod 170 with a clevis 172. Each clevis 172 is pivoted tothe longer portion of a lever 174 that is stationarily pivoted at 176 tothe frame of the pertaining guide means. The short portion of lever 174on the other side of pin 176 is pivotally connected by link 178 with oneend of the pertaining slide 162 on which bearing 160 is mounted. Eachcylinder 166 is furthermore pivotally supported at 180 on the frame ofthe guide means.

Conduits 182 supply air under pressure to cylinders 166 while springmeans 184 are provided for biasing pistons 168 in the oppositedirection.

' The conduits 182 lead to an adjustable pressure control valve 186conveniently located so that the operator, by manipulating lever 188,can adjust the valve to provide any desired degree of pressure tocylinders 166 thereby to thrust ginning roller 56 toward ginning knife60 with any desired degree of thrust within operative limitations. Theparticular pressure being supplied to the cylinders can be indicated bypressure gauge 190.

The novel manner in which the gin according to the present inventionoperates will be seen best in FIGURES 5 thru 8 which are more or lessdiagrammatic views drawn at enlarged scale showing the action of theginning roller and stationary knife and rotary knife or bar as the seedsare stripped from the fibers of the cotton locks.

In these figures it will be seen that the cotton locks are carriedtoward stationary knife 60 by the adherence of the fibers to the surfaceof the ginning roller 56. This surface moves toward the leading edge ofknife 60 from above and at a more rapid speed than the tips of theblades 200 on rotary bar or knife 52. Because of this speeddifferential, the fibers 202 tend to be drawn out ahead of the seeds 204and a certain amount of pre-ginning of the cotton locks takes placebefore the fibers are pulled under the tip of knife 69. The action ofthe gin at about the time the fibers of a lock of cotton indicated byarrow 206 commence to move under the stationary knife 60, is 51-lustrated in FIGURE 5. The fibers will not be drawn under the knife atthe same speed as the surface of the ginnin roller because there will bea certain resistance to movement of the fibers under the knife. Inparticular, with long staple cotton, a substantial time pull the fiberscompletely under the tip of the knife.

The gin of the present invention operates to provide for highlyefiicient ginning of the cotton because of the action of rotary bar orknife 52. For example, turning to FIGURE 6, which follows in sequencefrom FIGURE 5, the seed 204 of the cotton lock 206 is engaged by thelowermost bar 200 of the rotary bar or knife and is being, in FIGURE 6,pushed outwardly over the top of knife 60. If the seed were confined ina circular cage about the rotary bar or knife, as has been attemptedheretofore, the result would be breakage of fibers and the tearing offof the seed from the cotton lock with a I of fibers still adhering tothe seed.

According to the present invention however, the path of the bars 200 ofthe rotary knife or bar is such as to have their tips 280 describe acircular path, the diameter of which is a small fraction of the diameterof the roll 56. The tips of the bars diverge from knife 60 so that theseed 204 of the lock 206 is released after the rotary bar or knife turnsa small amount beyond its FIG- URE 6 position. What then occurs is thatthe fibers being drawn under the ginning knife by the ginning rollerpull the seed backwardly to the tip of the knife with the fibers beingpulled under the knife and the next bar 200 of the rotary knife or barapproaches the seed as will be seen in FIGURE 7, which follows FIGURE 6in sequence.

As the fibers are substantially completely pulled from the seed at thistime, the bar will knock the seed over the top of the stationary knifeand free of the fibers, and substantially all of the fibers will passwith the ginning is required to substantial amount v 7 r 6 roller underthe stationary knife. The seed 204 thus dislodged will be seen in FIGURE8, which follows in sequence from FIGURE 7.

With long staple cotton it has been found that the seed will be pulledaround by a bar 200 of the rotary knife or bar as many as 2, 3 or 4times and successively released before all of the fibers pertaining tothe particular seed are pulled therefrom and drawn under the ginningknife. There is thus a substantial amount of time available for thecomplete ginning of each lock of cotton even though the time required topull the fibers therefrom amounts to as much time as it might take therotary knife or bar to make a half revolution or more. The action of thegin, however, is continuous and is not intermittent as has characterizedformer roller gins having a reciprocating knife member. The amount ofcotton that can be ginned in a. roller gin of the type describedcompares with the best rate of production that can be had with a sawgin, while at the same time the resulting fiber output is in superiorcondition in that the fibers are more nearly parallel with each otherand are free of entanglement with each other, are substantially free ofnips and exhibit a minimum amount of breakage.

The gin according to the present invention is substantiallyself-regulating in that any substantial overfeeding of cotton to theginning roller will tend to cause cotton locks to pass over the top ofthe rotary knife or bar and pass on to the saw cylinder 70 whence thefibers are returned to the extractor or precleaner 12 at the input sideof the gin.

The pre-ginning referred to above, which takesplace on account of theretarding of the movement of the cotton locks by the rotary knife or barprior to the fibers reaching the stationary knife can be augmented byproviding one or more additional rotary knives or bars preceding the oneillustrated in the drawings. The provision of one or more rotary knivesor bars in advance of the one located at the tip of the stationary knifewill provide for a substantial amount of pre-ginning and this wouldmaterially increase the fiber output of the gin.

It will therefore be understood that the term rotary knife means orrotary bar means is intended to include the provision of a plurality ofthese members arranged parallel to each other and spacedcircumferentially about the top of the ginning roller where it applace.

The rotary bar or knife represents an all important.

feature of the present invention and has the merit not only of bringingabout the aforementioned pre-ginning and the cooperation with thestationary knife at the time of the actual ginning, as illustrated inFIGURES 5 thru 8, but is a device that can be adjusted with greatprecision and the adjustment maintained for a long period of time andwith the gin running at a high rate of speed. This feature overcomes thespecific defect in roller cotton gins having flight bars, as explainedabove, which, as mentioned, are substantially impossible to keep inadjustment for any period of time in addition to representingexpensiveand bulky devices that require considerable maintenance.

' The control system for the gin is somewhat diagrammaticallyillustrated in FIGURE 10 wherein electric power lines are indicated atL1 and L2. Connected between these power lines is a relay R adapted forbeing energized by closing of a starting switch 250. The relay has aholding circuit through a blade R1 thereof and a normally closed stopswitch 252. V

A second blade R2 of the relay is in circuit with main drive motor 254which is belted or otherwise connected to the input shaft 82 of the gin.

Still another blade R3 of the relay is in circuit with the actuatingsolenoid S1 of an air control valve 256. This valve has a pressure inletconduit 258, a pressure exhaust conduit 260, and a service conduit 262leading through the aforementioned regulating valve 186 to the cylinders166 pertaining to the slides on which the bearings for the ginningroller are mounted. Valve 256 is shifted into position to connectpressure conduit 258 with service conduit 260 upon energization ofsolenoid 51 which is accomplished by energizing relay R. When relay R isde-energized to stop the gin, the solenoid S1 is de-energized and atthis time valve 256 is shifted by its spring 264 into position toconnect service conduit 262 with exhaust conduit 260.

De-energization of solenoid S1 will thus relieve cylinders 166 ofpressure and will permit the springs 184 therein to move the respectivepistons 168 in a direction to retract the ginning roller from thestationary knife. With the arrangement above described the retraction ofthe ginning roller from the stationary knife is accomplishedautomatically whenever the gin is stopped so that the hot knife will notcause any damage to the heat sensitive surface of the ginning roller.

Retraction of pistons 168 can be made even more rapid by the provisionof a dump valve 266 which is connected to exhaust at 268 and which has aconduit 270 leading to the downstream side of valve 186. Valve 266 isnormally biased by spring 2.72 in position to exhaust cylinders 166, butupon energization of relay R, solenoid S2 pertaining to valve 266 isenergized and the valve is shifted to interrupt communication betweenconduits 268 and 270, which, together with shifting of valve 266, bringsabout the building up of the desired pressure in cylinders 166.De-energization of solenoid S2, however, will produce almostinstantaneous exhausting of cylinders 166 and, thus, substantial-1yinstantaneous retraction of roller 56 from knife 60.

The roller according to the present invention is relatively compact andoperates extremely rapidly, produces up to five times the amount offibers that can be obtained by the best roller gins of the prior art andoperating, in fact, at a rate of fiber output comparable with that of asaw gin of the same dimensions.

As mentioned before, the fibers are in superior condition as compared tofibers produced on a saw gin and, in particular, long staple cotton canbe ginned at a high rate of speed in the roller gin according to thepresent invention.

Seed breakage is kept to a minimum by forming the bars 200 of the rotaryknife or bar means with somewhat rounded tip ends as indicated at 280 inFIGURES 5 through 8 and relieving the trailing side of each bar asindicated at 28.2. It has been found that this formation of theindividual bars or knives of the rotary knife or bar means is effectivefor imparting the action described to the seeds during the ginning of alock while, at the same time, greatly minimizing seed breakage.

FIGURE 11 shows an arrangement wherein the surface of the ginning rolleris provided by a belt or the like. In this figure the roller proper isindicated at 300, and spaced therefrom is an idler roller 302. A belt ofsuitable material indicated at 304 is entrained over the ginning rollerand idler roller and provides the surface for the roller. The sameginning knife is indicated at 306 and the rotary bar is indicated at308.

The arrangement of FIGURE 11 would permit the arrangement of the idlerroller 302 at an elevated position as indicated by the dot-dash outlineat 310 so there would be a substantial length of belt 304 disposed inthe proper position for receiving locks of cotton, so that pre-ginningof the cotton can be carried out over a substantial distance by theprovision of a plurality of the rotary bars 308 arranged along the beltin spaced relation.

In FIGURE 12 ginning roller 312 is mounted on a shaft 314, and at oneend thereof is a swing-away support arm 316 so the adjacent end of theginning roller can be exposed. This permits a sleeve like cover 318 tobe slipped on the roller, whereupon the roller can be expanded intotight supporting engagement with the sleeve by availing of the wedgeshaped ends 320 of the roller and the clamp nut 322. The arrangement ofFIGURE 12 greatly facilitates the replacing of the cover of the ginningroller which, in ordinary roller gins, is a time consuming and laboriousjob.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modificationin order to adapt it to different usages and conditions; andaccordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within thisinvention as may fall Within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A roller cotton gin comprising; a ginning roller, a stationary knifeparallel to the roller axis arranged substantially tangential to theroller surface and bearing against the downgoing side of the roller, arotary bar having its axis parallel to the roller axis and locatedsubstantially radially outwardly from the region of engagement of theroller with the knife, longitudinal blade means on the bar projectingtherefrom and of such a length as to sweep close to the roller and knifeas the bar rotates along a path which converges with the roller ahead ofsaid region and diverges from the knife behind said region, and meansfor driving said roller and bar in respectively opposite directions andwith the tips of said blades moving slower than the surface of saidroller, said gin including a frame, bearings supporting said roller,slide means in the frame movably supporting said bearings for movementof the roller toward and away from said knife, motor means connected tosaid roller to move said roller toward and away from said knife, saidmotor means including biasing means for moving said roller away fromsaid knife and a source of adjustable pressure connected with said motormeans for urging the roller toward the knife against said biasing meansto develop ginning pressure between the roller and knife, and means forexhausting said motor means to cause said roller to retract from saidknife.

2. A roller cotton gin comprising; a ginning roller, a stationary knifeparallel to the roller axis arranged substantially tangential to theroller surface and bearing against the downgoing side of the roller, arotary bar having its axis parallel to the roller axis and locatedsubstantially radially outwardly from the region of engagement of theroller with the knife, longitudinal blade means on the bar projectingtherefrom and of such a length as to sweep close to the roller and knifeas the bar rotates along a path which converges with the roller ahead ofsaid region and diverges from the knife behind said region, and meansfor driving said roller and bar in respectively opposite directions andwith the tips of said blades moving slower than the surface of saidroller, said gin including a frame, bearings supporting said roller,slide means in the frame movably supporting said bear ings for movementof the roller toward and away from said knife, motor means includingbiasing means to move the roller away from said knife, a source ofadjustable pressure connected with said motor means for urging theroller toward the knife against said biasing means to develop ginningpressure between the roller and knife, and means for exhausting saidmotor means to cause said roller to retract from said knife, and meansoperable in response to the interruption of actuating power to saidroller and bar for actuating 'said means for exhausting said motormeans.

3. A roller cotton gin comprising; a ginning roller, a stationary knifeparallel to the roller axis arranged substantially tangential to theroller surface and hearing against the downgoing side of the roller, arotary bar having its axis parallel to the roller axis and locatedsubstantially radially outwardly from the region of engagement of theroller with the knife, longitudinal blade means on the bar projectingtherefrom and of such a length as to sweep close to the roller and knifeas the bar rotates along a path which converges with the roller ahead ofsaid region and diverges from the knife behind said region, and meansfor driving said roller and bar in respectively opposite directions andwith the tips of said blades moving slower than the surface of saidroller, means for pressing said roller against said knife duringrotation of said roller and including means operable automatically uponthe interruption of the supply of power to said means for driving saidroller and bar for moving the roller away from said knife.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Harriss 19-54 1Meurling 19-53 Cross et a1. 195O Mitchell 1936 ONeal 1952 Williams etal. 1950 Jennings 19-50 Neitzel 19-50 FOREIGN PATENTS of 1864 GreatBritain. of 1896 Great Britain.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner. ROBERT R. MACKEY, Examiner. 15 D.NEWTON, Assistant Examiner.

1. A ROLLER COTTON GIN COMPRISING: A GINNING ROLLER, A STATIONARY KNIFEPARALLEL TO THE ROLLER AXIS ARRANGED SUBSTANTIALLY TANGENTIAL TO THEROLLER SURFACE AND BEARING AGAINST THE DOWNGOING SIDE OF THE ROLLER, AROTARY BAR HAVING ITS AXIS PARALLEL TO THE ROLLER AXIS AND LOCATEDSUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM THE REGION OF ENGAGEMENT OF THEROLLER WITH THE KNIFE, LONGITUDINAL BLADE MEANS ON THE BAR PROTECTINGTHEREFROM AND OF SUCH A LENGTH AS TO SWEEP CLOSE TO THE ROLLER AND KNIFEAS THE BAR ROTATES ALONG A PATH WHICH COVERGES WITH THE ROLLER AHEAD OFSAID REGION AND DIVERGES FROM THE KNIFE BEHIND SAID REGION, AND MEANSFOR DRIVING SAID ROLLER AND BAR IN RESPECTIVELY OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS NDWITH THE TIPS OF SAID BLADES MOVING SLOWER THAN THE SURFACE OF SAIDROLLER, SAID GIN INCLUDING A FRAME, BEARINGS UPPORTING SAID ROLLER,